Mars Mission
under attack]] Mars Mission is a Space theme that debuted in August 2007, and was officially discontinued by 2009. The theme focuses on the adventures of a team of Astronauts as they land on Mars and are forced to contend with a dangerous alien race. Sets in the theme were released for two consecutive years, and almost every one of them focused on a vehicle under control of either the humans or the aliens, the only exceptions being 7690 MB-01 Eagle Command Base, and 5616 Mini Robot. The theme was, in a sense, a sequel to the previous Space subtheme, Life on Mars, although Life on Mars featured a peaceful martian race, rather than a war between humans and aliens. Factions The Astronauts The humans are a group of astronauts that have journeyed to Mars in search of powerful yellow-green energy crystals found on the Martian surface. In the storyline, the humans are mining the crystals for a new source of energy, as Earth is experiencing an energy crisis. Unfortunately for the Astronauts, the Aliens are also seeking the crystals for themselves. The human structures consist of two colours: orange and white. They have the "Classic Space symbol". There were a range of Astronaut members in the Mars Mission theme; according to LEGO Battles, the Astronauts were led by the Astro Commander, a leader of the Astronauts in the game who appeared during cutscenes. The expedition was then followed by two commandos named Biff and Gemma. The Aliens The Aliens have originated from an unknown place in the cosmos, and are also searching for the crystals. In actuality, they are not from MarsLEGO Club Magazine and LEGO Battles, and are immediately identified as a dangerous and invasive force by the Astronauts. The Aliens themselves are transparent green and glow in the dark. Alien Commanders are the leaders of the Alien army. The army attacks any human encampments and Astronauts that they encounter. The Aliens are shown to reside in underground hives. In 2008, it appeared that the Aliens had been routed, and the hives were destroyed. According to LEGO Battles, there is an Alien Queen. The Alien Queen has the appearance of an Alien Commander, but her legs resemble those of Spy Clops from the Agents theme. There are also four legged spider-like robots which fill the role of builder in Lego Battles. There are also silver humanoid robots called Laser Troopers which are exactly like Devastator from the Exo-Force theme, they shoot green laser bolts. Also, in LEGO Battles, the Aliens only wanted the crystals to power up their mothership to leave the planet. Features Pump System LEGO revived an older, somewhat forgotten feature in this new theme. This was the pump system, which was pioneered in one of the previous Space ranges, namely Life on Mars. In Mars Mission, the system is coloured in white and orange instead of the purple, tan, and other rare colours defining the Life on Mars theme. It features in the sets 7690 MB-01 Eagle Command Base and 7691 ETX Alien Mothership Assault. Crystals The Crystals are one of the main reasons that the Humans came to Mars. Both races wish to use these crystals as power sources, which can be used to supply energy to all of their respective vehicles and systems. These green energy crystals are similar in function to the Biodium ore in the Life on Mars theme. They can be found in almost every Mars Mission set. They are found in subterranean caves or embedded in the Martian soil. They are scanned with sensors, named Crysta-sensors, to see if they are pure. The Crystals are then promptly shipped to the nearest human base. In LEGO Battles, the astronauts and aliens also compete to locate a purple variant of the energy crystals, which are apparently far more powerful than their green counterparts. Online Attractions Like most LEGO themes at the time, Mars Mission had a website accessible from LEGO.com. The Mars Mission site had two games, a product information page, a download page, and an "Astronaut Log" showing letters from the Astronauts. One of the games, CrystAlien Conflict, was immensely popular with LEGO.com users. The game puts the user in the role of commander for either the Astronaut faction or the Alien faction. At the main menu of the game, there is an "access code" box that the user can type secret codes into. The letters appear in Alien font when typed. Here are some of the secret codes: *MoneyPenny=unlock all helping cheats (not levels) *Santa=level Santa *fatwallet=50,000 credits *299792458/quickbuild=build faster *n00b/newbie=triple armor *theylive/t2000=alien special ops *1337=reset all cheat codes *earth=Alien level 1 *zapper=Alien level 2 *extra=Alien level 3 *retreat=Alien level 4 *doctor=Alien level 5 *scramble=Alien level 6 *flow=Alien level 7 *redalert=Alien level 8 *5050=Alien level 9 *nightfall=Alien level 10 *clearskies=clears all shrouds *mars=Astronaut level 1 *powerup=Astronaut level 2 *niceman=Astronaut level 3 *buggy=Astronaut level 4 *flyboy=Astronaut level 5 *range=Astronaut level 6 *stomp=Astronaut level 7 *UFO=Astronaut level 8 *elton=Astronaut level 9 *eclipse=Astronaut level 10 *temple=Alien bonus level *checkmate=alien bonus level *manic=Astronaut bonus level *pizza=Astronaut bonus level *match=Astronaut bonus level Sets 2007 2008 Mini Boxes Miscellaneous Unreleased Released in 2007: * 7690 MB-01 Eagle Command Base - Minifigures: 4 Astronauts, 4 Aliens * 7691 ETX Alien Mothership Assault - Minifigures: 2 Astronauts, 5 Aliens * 7692 MX-71 Recon Dropship - Minifigures: 2 Astronauts, 4 Aliens * 7693 ETX Alien Strike - Minifigures: Astronaut, 2 Aliens * 7694 MT-31 Trike - Minifigures: Astronaut, Alien * 7695 MX-11 Astro Fighter - Minifigures: Astronaut, Alien * 7697 MT-51 Claw-Tank Ambush - Minifigures: Astronaut, 2 Aliens * 7699 MT-101 Armoured Drilling Unit - Minifigures: 3 Astronauts, 2 Aliens Released in 2008: * 5616 Mini Robot - Minifigures: Astronaut * 5617 Alien Jet - Minifigures: Alien * 5619 Crystal Hawk - Minifigures: Astronaut * 7644 MX-81 Hypersonic Operations Aircraft - Minifigures: 3 Astronauts, Alien, Alien Commander * 7645 MT-61 Crystal Reaper - Minifigures: 3 Astronauts, 2 Aliens, Alien Commander * 7646 ETX Alien Infiltrator - Minifigures: 2 Astronauts, Alien, Alien Commander * 7647 MX-41 Switch Fighter - Minifigures: Astronaut, Alien * 7648 MT-21 Mobile Mining Unit - Minifigures: Astronaut, Alien * 7649 MT-201 Ultra-Drill Walker - Minifigures: 2 Astronauts, Alien Commander * P7231c Mars Mission Fountain Pen * P7222c QLever Mars Mission Rollerball Pen * Space Adventures - Mars Alien Attack Minifigures Notes * The humans chose the colour scheme of orange and white for their equipment and vehicles because the two colours reflect harmful rays from Mars, which has no ozone to achieve ray deflection. * In LEGO Battles, the Aliens only wanted the crystals to power up their mothership and leave Mars. * Also in LEGO Battles was a special purple type of energy crystal, which was more powerful than its yellow counterpart. * Tools used by the Astronauts include pickaxes, drills, Crysta-sensors, walkie-talkies, chainsaws and jackhammers, among others. * Because the Aliens did not have tubes on the rear of their legs like normal minifigures, they had to be attached to their ships by their feet, using Erlings (Studs on sides) elements. * The site has been removed from LEGO.com, but you can still find the games on different sites. * The logo for the aliens was reused for the Alien Conquest theme. External Links * Mars Mission Main Page - LEGO * Lego Mars Mission Wiki * LEGO Mars Mission Wiki (Wikia) See Also * Life on Mars References Category:Space * Category:Themes Category:Themes introduced in 2007 Category:Discontinued Themes